Impacted Crop - Part 2 - Paper compaction

[vantain]

I let her out in the sunny yard today, to do a little free ranging. She obviously wasn't interested in eating, but I do think she enjoyed the sunshine, and pecking around at the grass. Every time she put her head down, she was leaking fluids from her mouth. I caught some in my hand, and it is basically just water, no smell to it at all. So it doesn't look like her crop is sour or anything, just very full, and likely of water.

It will probably be the last time she gets to enjoy this activity. I did it every evening last summer with all the hens, and they enjoyed it immensely. I gave them about 30-45 minutes a day out and about with my supervision. We have bald eagles and hawks here, which is why I don't let them free range. I see too many rabbits being snatched weekly.

Oh, and while we were out, she pooped a very bright green pasty little pile. It smelled horrible, and was the consistency of a thick paste. It was about a marble sized amount. Not sure what that was.

In any case, she is back in the run, just standing alone.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

How is she doing now?

 

[vantain]

She passed two soft shelled eggs last night.

 

[Eggcessive]

Maybe that is why she felt so bad and was not passing droppings.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

She passed two soft shelled eggs last night.

Poor girl

I wonder if you stopped her from laying for a while if it would "re-set" her system. Of course that would involve limiting her light exposure to less than 12hrs a day, the rest of the time she would need to be in the dark. This will usually stop them from laying after several days, but I have no idea how long you would need to do this to see if it would even make a difference when she resumed laying.

I would say she has a shell gland defect but the cause, it would be hard to know.

 

[Eggcessive]

They need about 3 days of darkness for 16 hours out of every 24 hours to stop them from laying. Then the can have 8 hours of daylight to roam around, eat and drink. I think I mentioned this in one of your threads earlier. People do this when their hens have a prolapse to allow the vents to heal. Once they stop laying, they may not resume laying for around 2 weeks, at least it has taken about that long with broodies that I have broken.

 

[vantain]

They need about 3 days of darkness for 16 hours out of every 24 hours to stop them from laying. Then the can have 8 hours of daylight to roam around, eat and drink. I think I mentioned this in one of your threads earlier. People do this when their hens have a prolapse to allow the vents to heal. Once they stop laying, they may not resume laying for around 2 weeks, at least it has taken about that long with broodies that I have broken.

How would I go about doing this? Total darkness? Just bring her in at a certain time, into a very dark room and leave her there for 16 hours? Then just put her back out with the others for the next 8 hours....rinse and repeat?

 

[Eggcessive]

Yes, dark room, garage, or covered cage. I have never done this, but chickens require at least 12 hours of artifical or natural light to ovulate. A recent thread had a vet tell his client to keep her chicken in 14 hours of darkness, but most literature has said 16 you could experiment if she lives. Wouldn’t it be a lifesaver to just give her a birth control pill? They have hormone implants available, but who is willing to spend $400 and it only may last 4 months.

 

[vantain]

Yes, dark room, garage, or covered cage. I have never done this, but chickens require at least 12 hours of artifical or natural light to ovulate. A recent thread had a vet tell his client to keep her chicken in 14 hours of darkness, but most literature has said 16 you could experiment if she lives. Wouldn’t it be a lifesaver to just give her a birth control pill? They have hormone implants available, but who is willing to spend $400 and it only may last 4 months.

I look at it as potentially giving her a break for a couple of weeks, so her body might heal a bit. I know we don't know what may be wrong internally, and if this is a reproductive disease, or cancer, etc..then this may only prolong her life a little while longer. But what if? What if...the "reset" of her reproductive system was all she needed to recover?

She is definitely doing a lot better today. I can't say she is 100%, but she is moving around more happily than yesterday. She's drinking again.

 

[vantain]

Also, these birds (ISA Brown) definitely are a wonder. Through the darkest part of winter, where there was definitely not 12 hours of light, they kept laying. Sad really, as I wish they would have taken a winter break. Note that we did not buy them for eggs as the primary reason. And knowing what I know now about the breed, I would never get them again. They are sweet birds though.